Voices of Culture: Intercultural Dialogue Brainstorming Session

For its fourth brainstorming session on intercultural dialogue to take place in March 2016, Voices of Culture is calling for applications.

Voices of Culture is a process established to create exchanges between civil society stakeholders in the cultural field and the European Commission. Within the “structured dialogue between the European Commission and the Cultural Sector” cultural professionals can make their voices heard at the European level. In total 5 topics will be covered and so far two brain-storming sessions – one on “Audience Development via Digital Means” and another “Participatory Governance of Cultural Heritage” took place. The next session for the third theme “Developing the Entrepreneurial and Innovation Potential of the Cultural and Creative Sectors” is set to take place in February 2016 and the fourth is set for March. NEMO participated in the first two brainstorming sessions.

35 European civil society stakeholders will be invited to discuss the topic “Promoting intercultural dialogue and bringing communities together through culture in shared public spaces“. The theme is derived from the political commitment of the European Commission following the Work Plan for Culture (2015-2018), which identified intercultural dialogue as a core subject. The specific interest lies in the question how culture in shared public spaces can be used to promote intercultural dialogue and bring communities together. The call for applications is open now!

The group of selected participants will brainstorm on this issue from 17-18 March 2016 resulting in a summarised Brainstorming Report. In April 2016, the main ideas can be discussed with the European Commission at a Dialogue Meeting at Flagey in Brussels.

The call is open to representatives of the cultural and creative sectors (professional organisations, cultural institutions, non-governmental organisations, European networks, foundations, private organisations, etc.) with sound expertise on the topic “promoting intercultural dialogue and bringing communities together through culture in shared public spaces”, who would like to contribute to discussions with the European Commission. Organisations applying must be from one of the 28 EU Member States.